The Return of Dr. Sloth
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The Return of Dr. Sloth was a plot set on Kreludor and the Virtupets Space Station, featuring Dr. Sloth. It was first slated for release in 2004 in conjunction with its trading card game expansion, but was shelved in favour of the Hannah and the Ice Caves plot due to artist scheduling conflict. It was finally revived four years later, beginning on 29 January 2008 and concluding on 15 March.
The plot follows Gorix, a member of a secret society known as the Resistance, and Cylara, a tourist who becomes separated from her family, as they struggle to foil Dr. Sloth's plan to conquer Neopia.
Story
While in a closet within the Space Station, Gorix is contacted by a Green Ixi and told to meet with "the Scout", a female Cybunny spy who had information vital to their cause. Agreeing to the task, Gorix takes off his janitor jumpsuit and walks out to find her. Meanwhile, the Cybunny is being chased by a dark figure - Ylana Skyfire - under laser fire. She barely escapes, and sneaks into the crowd of the Space Station. Needing to quickly get to Grundos Cafe and meet with the spy without being seen, Gorix travels through the maintenance tunnels, risking death by being sucked out through an air lock or attack by a maintenance robot. After passing through the tunnels, he goes to Grundos Cafe to meet with the spy.
Meanwhile, Cylara was being given a tour of the Space Station with her parents, who were impressed with the technology on board. At that moment the station's alarm goes off and Commander Garoo enters, flanked by armoured Blumaroo elite soldiers, declaring that the Station is now under the control of Dr. Sloth. The guards start rounding up the Neopets on board, causing chaos, and Cylara is separated from her parents. The Scout, who has been hidden and watching, is found by one of the soldiers and conceals her identity by pretending to be Cylara. Cylara herself is found by Gorix and mistaken for the Scout, to Cylara's confusion. They are spotted by the soldiers and Gorix drags Cylara away to make their escape. As they are surrounded Cylara thinks on her feet and smashes a fire extinguisher to conceal their escape. Only then is she able to reveal to Gorix that she is not the contact he was expecting, much to his horror.
Cylara revealed that she saw a Cybunny about her age pretend to be her when Garoo's soldiers entered, and Gorix realised it must have be the one he was looking for. Gorix explained that they would need help from The Resistance to save both the Scout and Cylara's parents, and takes her inside their head quarters.
Upon their entry, the Green Ixi was surprised to see Cylara instead of the Scout, and Gorix explained the Scout was detained by soldiers from Garoo's raid, but was seen mingling with Cylara's parents. The Ixi, realising that this was Dr. Sloth's return, ordered Gorix to rescue the scout, while they would dispatch "the girl" to a place of safety.
Angry at being called a child, Cylara said that she can help, and Gorix noted that she had helped him escape the raid and was the one who revealed where the Scout was. The Ixi agreed to her help, providing that she could keep up with the rest of them. Frustrated at still being talked over, Cylara asks what The Resistance was, and the Ixi explained: The Resistance was an organization created after the events of Arrival of Virtupets in order to prepare for the eventual return of Dr. Sloth, which was happening as they spoke.
He also mentioned some more contemporary affairs - the Space Faerie was away to another galaxy, investigating a disturbance which The Resistance presently suspected was likely a ploy by Dr. Sloth, because she was not responding to their communications. Gorix and Cylara moved out to intercept the Scout, and find out what she knows about Dr. Sloth's return.
The civilian prisoners - including the Scout and Cylara's parents, who were covering the Scout's presence in return for her promise to help find their daughter - were under guard by Garoo's Blumaroo soldiers, waiting to be loaded aboard transport shuttles. Garoo radioed Commander Gormos, who passed on the news of the Space Station's capture to Dr. Sloth. Pleased that this time had come at last, Dr. Sloth ordered the initiation of "Phase 2".
Ylana told Garoo, who had just begun to usher the prisoners onto the shuttles, that she was looking for a "certain Cybunny" - the Scout - that Dr. Sloth was eager to see. Garoo let her inspect the prisoners, but warned her not to take too long. From the grate behind the Acara, Cylara and The Resistance looked out across the hall. Gorix sent a team, lead by Xaner, to take out the guards, and Conicks and two others to reprogramme the shuttles' computers to fly to a safe place on Neopia instead of their intended destination. To Cylara, who had spotted her family, he merely said, "It's time to rescue your parents." Ylana Skyfire meanwhile finally tracked down the Scout, and Cylara stayed behind to defend her.
Gorix, the Scout and Cylara returned to the Resistance Headquarters, where the Scout relayed her intelligence. She claimed that a Sloth spy had caused the factions of Grundos on the moon of Kreludor to fight amongst themselves, allowing Sloth access to the Kreludite mines below the surface. Sloth's plan soon became clear, to use the radioactive properties of Kreludite to mutate the population of Neopia. As the Resistance mounted an effort to retake the station, Gorix and Cylara set off to Kreludor in the hopes of putting an end to Sloth's plans.
Gorix and Cylara were soon captured on the moon by a faction of Grundos led by Xarthab. Gorix recognised one of Xarthab's aids - Parlax, a traitor working for Dr. Sloth. As Parlax was taken away, Xarthab and his brother Zorlix were united at last. Unfortunately, Dr. Sloth decided to turn his full military might on the moon, and with the Space Faerie away in a distant galaxy, it seemed there was little hope. The Space Faerie did have one suggestion: Sloth was in possession of her magic token, and its abilities would be able to stop the fleet.
As the Grundos on Kreludor began to prepare their weapons, Parlax escaped. Gorix and Cylara made their way straight for Sloth's mothership in the hopes of finding the Space Faerie's Token, and on the Space Station, Valka and the Scout launched an attack on the remaining soldiers of Sloth's Empire. As the battle turned against Commander Garoo, another bounty hunter, Sophix II, arrived with an army of robotic Grundos that evened the odds.
Onboard Sloth's mothership, Gorix and Cylara sorted through various duplicate tokens until they located the real version, guarded by the Yurbot. In the bowels of the ship, they encountered a disgruntled Commander Gormos, who out of anger at Dr. Sloth, allowed them to pass. Gorix and Cylara then continued to Sloth's chamber. There, Gorix fought Parlax while Cylara prepared the chant to activate the Space Faerie's Token. The magic soon had an effect, sucking in Sloth and trapping him within. In his last act before disappearing, Sloth activated the mothership's self-destruct. Gorix and Cylara fled just in time, though Parlax also managed to escape. With Sloth seemingly destroyed, the rest of his troops gave themselves up, with Ylana escaping the space station before the Scout could apprehend her.
After the battle, Commander Gormos reached Kreludor, hoping to take it over and create his own empire of evil, only to find that the Grundos had heard of his actions onboard the mothership and hailed him as a hero.
Meanwhile, the Space Faerie Token had survived the explosion of the mothership, and floated malevolently in space...
Participation
A Series of Tubes
Following the first comic's release, the Space Station was updated with an image link to the Maintenance Section. This link lead to a cross-section of corridors, with the far left door open. Through this door, the user reached the maintenance tunnels and was required to guide Gorix through five different map puzzles. Open air locks prevented safe travel through the tunnels, requiring the user to position the gravity generators correctly and closing every pressure door before moving to the exit or Gorix would die, resulting in the puzzle reseting. Some of the levels contained maintenance robots (specifically the Robot Petpet Buzzler), which would also kill Gorix if he came into contact with them.
In each puzzle, every pressure door must have been passed through (by Gorix or by a robot) in order to close it, which would open the gate to the next puzzle. Once closed, a pressure door could not be passed through again. Gorix was guided by the use of gravity generators which changed his direction at cross-sections. One of the four ports onto the generator was marked with an arrow Gorix would follow down a corridor. Every time a generator was walked over (by Gorix or by a robot), it would rotate ninety degrees clockwise. Generators could be set up to point in a specific direction at the beginning of each level by clicking on them with the mouse to cycle through the different orientations.
Resistance Headquarters
...to be added...
Shuttle Bay
...to be added...
Battledome
...to be added...
Token Testing Facility
...to be added...
Prizes
Prizes for this plot were released on 1 April 2008. Players can redeem the points they were awarded for participating at Jorax's Discount Space Prize Emporium. Visiting the shop also rewards participants with a site theme and a trophy.
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2004 cancellation
The 2004 version of The Return of Dr. Sloth was cancelled before any plot comics or storyline were released. However, tie-in flash games and Gallery of Heroes entries were slowly released following its cancellation anyway.
Dr. Sloth took over New Features on 18 November 2004 in order to vent his frustration at Hannah and the Ice Caves being chosen of his plot, and a mock ending to the plot appeared for a short period of time where Sloth mutated Hannah in revenge.
Trivia
- The first puzzle "A Series of Tubes" is a reference to a speech made by U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, in which he states the Internet is "not a dump truck, but a series of tubes".
External links
- Plot Info: The Return of Dr. Sloth (comic), Maintenance Section, A Series of Tubes, Resistance Headquarters, Shuttle Bay
- Neopets TCG: Return of Dr. Sloth
- Caption Competition: #490, #665
- Selected Petpages: Renjiroe's In-Depth Dr. Sloth Plot Guide, SlothyPlot's guide, KyootestLenny's Puzzle #2 guide
- Selected Fansites: Sunnyneo - The Return of Dr. Sloth Plot